Tag: Georgia Department of Natural Resources

Angler confused over hooked fish soon discovers its significance

A fisherman thought what he hooked couldn’t be a bass, as the fight was different. Then he saw the fish, and got really excited.

A Georgia fisherman was confused upon hooking a fish, thinking it couldn’t be a bass because it was fighting funny.

But when Emerson Mulhall saw its color, the species at the end of his line became clear. It was a yellow perch, and a big one at that.

“I was confused when I hooked the fish because it didn’t fight like a bass, which is what I typically pursue, and then [I was] surprised when I saw the yellow coloring,” Mulhall told the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division. “But [I] got really excited when we realized it was a huge perch.”

Mulhall was fishing on Lake Burton on Sunday when he made the colorful catch.

“I called my dad, who is the one who taught me to fish, and he encouraged me to get off the lake and go get it weighed on a certified scale.”

So that’s what he did.

 

The 16-inch yellow perch weighed 2 pounds, 9 ounces, and it tied the state record for the species. The typical yellow perch weighs around 1 pound.

“I would bet that holding a state-record tie is a great motivator for Emerson, and all anglers, to take advantage of the amazing angling opportunities all over the state and try to land that next record,” said Scott Robinson, Chief of Fisheries for the Wildlife Resources Division.

Added Mulhall, “I like to say that there are no ‘bad’ days on the lake, but some days are better than others. This was definitely one of those days.”

Photos courtesy of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Emerson Mulhall.

Fisherman in bass tournament catches record sunfish

Lester Roberts was fishing in a bass tournament on the Satilla River in Georgia when he hooked into what he thought was a good-size bass.

Lester Roberts was fishing with a friend in a bass tournament on the Satilla River in Georgia when he hooked into what he thought was a good-size bass. Instead, it was a king-size redbreast sunfish that turned out to be a Georgia record, and might possibly be a world record.

Roberts used a crankbait to catch the redbreast sunfish that weighed 1 pound, 12.32 ounces, as reported by Georgia Outdoor News.

The old state record was 1 pound, 11 ounces caught in 1998.

The fishermen were casting crankbaits along the banks of the river when the big sunfish hit.

“I cast up in the limbs in the swift current and was bringing my crankbait back out,” Roberts told GON. “That’s when he slammed it.”

Both fishermen thought he’d hooked a nice bass until it broke the surface.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Exotic sea creature washes ashore alive, baffles beachgoer (video) 

“I swung him in the boat, and we couldn’t believe just how big he was,” Roberts told GON. “We’d never seen anything like it.”

They put it into the livewell and continued to catch bass. At the dock, a friend weighed the sunfish and the scale read 1 pound, 12 ounces.

“At that point I’m thinking I might have the state-record fish,” Roberts told GON. “Later that afternoon around 5 o’clock, we took the fish to the DNR where it was certified as the new state-record redbreast.”

The Wildlife Resources Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources stated on Facebook that Roberts’ catch could tie the world record, that being a redbreast sunfish weighing 1 pound, 12 ounces caught by Alvin Buchanan in 1984 in Florida’s Suwannee River.

But might it be recognized as a world record? GON reported Roberts’ sunfish as .32 ounces over the current world record. So, stay tuned.

By the way, Roberts and his friend Whitey Hendrix finished second in the bass tournament.

Photos courtesy of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

[listicle id=1889699]